Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Assessing Through Reflecting

Using a central idea allows for enquiry-based maths to take place with an intended direction for the whole class, but allows for student ownership and wonderings to be explored.Recently we just completed our unit exploring volume and capacity.Our central idea and class brainstormed questions to explore:

The other great advantage to using a central idea as it can be used as the pre, formative and summative assessment that is also meaningful for student learning as they reflect on their understandings.When unpacking our central idea, we identified the key words and then recorded what we already knew. We also recorded some wonderings we might already have to explore.As the unit progressed, we would pause occasionally and the children would reflect on what they have learnt, theories are they formulating and perhaps more wonderings.This serves as an important reflection time for the child to consolidate what they have learnt.The children also gain an immense sense of pride in what they have achieved as mathematicians when they flip over and see what they initially knew at the beginning of the unit till now. As a formative, it provides valuable insights of where each child is at and so helps inform learning experiences that could cater to those conceptual or skill understandings that need formulating. Sometimes, misconceptions are recorded and so these can be addressed in future learning experiences too. Some samples:Pre-Assessment: